Collingwood superstar Nick Daicos has weighed into the father-son rule that is being fiercely debated across the AFL.
Fresh off being awarded the AFL Players' Most Valuable Player honour at Thursday night's ceremony, Daicos was asked about the contentious rule that allowed him and his brother Josh to follow their famous father Peter into Collingwood's black and white strip.
Introduced way back in 1949, the rule has had a number of amendments over the years but effectively allows a club to draft the son of a former player, provided they meet certain eligibility.
The father must have played 100 games for the club of choice and while there is a bidding process, the son nearly always ends up at the club of choice.
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The rule doesn't sit well with a number of AFL clubs, who have sat back and watched the Brisbane Lions add Norm Smith medallist Will Ashcroft to their books and then draft his brother Levi two years later.
They are sons of triple premiership Lion Marcus Ashcroft.
Amid talk the rule is going to be amended again or even scrapped, Nick Daicos offered his feelings on Thursday night.
“It’s an interesting one,” he said. “I think it’s been a great tradition and I don’t know where it sits.
"There have probably been a few players like Sam Darcy that have changed it a bit, performing so well so early, but I don’t know if that’s been consistent over a number of years.
“I don’t know if the rule needs to be changed. I’m quite romantic, I think it’s an amazing thing that a player gets to play for the same football club as their father.
“You can see how teams can get a little disgruntled with teams like Brisbane that are going so well and then they add both Ashcroft brothers, who are clearly stars so early.
“I understand both sides to it, but I’d probably lean towards keeping it.”
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Earlier this week, veteran footy reporter Caroline Wilson said there is an expectation the rule will be changed next year.
“Most footy bosses believe there will be no father-son or academy picks for the whole first round of the draft, which is what St Kilda, Fremantle and others have been pushing for,” she said on Channel 7’s Agenda Setters.
“(It comes) in a week where Levi Ashcroft could well win the Rising Star and certainly be a contender.
“We discussed it with Jarryd Roughead today and he made the point where it’s really disappointing to the Hawthorn Football Club that the son of their champion, twice Norm Smith medallist and premiership captain (Luke Hodge), that his son (Cooper) could go to Brisbane ahead of Hawthorn because of academies.”